Your rants here.

dinyull

Woke up full of cold, seriously considered taking the car but soldiered on. PF visit just over a mile from work which I changed easily enough and found the shard of glass straight away. Pump then fell apart in my hand and then re-assembled wouldn't work.

Anti-rant - Man on cool Ducati sat in the queue of traffic saw me struggling and pulled over to give me a hand. He work's in LBS and was a bit of a legend, pump was fine but I was fumbling about with it.

xbnm

If you driving a bus try and have a bit of anticipation its all very passing me in the cycle lane but when there's passengers waiting in the stop 50 yards up the road your going to have a bit of an issue pulling in to the stop. Fortunately my anticipation is better than yours but better not to do than do and have to apologise after.

wolfsbane2k

Was it officially "see how close you can get to a cyclist while in excess of 40mph" morning ?
It seriously felt like it, had 7 cars pass with what felt like less than an inch between wing mirrors and handle bars while in primary against oncoming traffic. All in the space of half a mile.
Probably more like 6 inches in reality, but still way too damn close

wolfsbane2k

Forgot to buy something rant - Also realised I meant to purchase a new rack in the halfrauds 10% sale a week or 2 back for second bike, as an additional 10% off would have been nice.

murvis1er

The the school run lady who parked her Volvo SUV horizontally across the entrance to the two lane cycle path in Notting Hill: You might not be aware of it, but there's a thing in your head called a brain. Please use it.

j_mcd

Out on a client site, but only for two weeks which means I'm not here long enough to get a pass sorted for the changing rooms/bike storage area. Have had to take the Waterloo and City for this week and got a whole week of it to come.

Unless I get the time to finally reassemble the Montague that is...

I miss having an actual desk and cupboard.

fat daddy

argh, crappy square taper bottom brackets fitted in 1997 with plastic caps !!!!

put tool in to remove cap .... gently rotate anticlockwise, the cap slowly loosens ... then .... boom, thousands of bits of plastic spline go everywhere

who makes stuff out of plastic, don't they realise that in 20 years time it will be so brittle it will disintergrate !!!

Got it out eventually, but crap sake, I HATE PLASTIC !

j_mcd

fat daddy wrote:

argh, crappy square taper bottom brackets fitted in 1997 with plastic caps !!!!

put tool in to remove cap .... gently rotate anticlockwise, the cap slowly loosens ... then .... boom, thousands of bits of plastic spline go everywhere

who makes stuff out of plastic, don't they realise that in 20 years time it will be so brittle it will disintergrate !!!

Got it out eventually, but crap sake, I HATE PLASTIC !

Are you going to be be replacing with Square Tapers or going for a Hollowtech replacement. If the latter, I'd be interested to know how it goes!

rjsterry

My inability to make a choice. Following the demise of my Giant, I've narrowed the replacement options down to a Kaffenback or a Ribble 525. I tend to tear through rims pretty quickly so the disc brakes on the Kaffenback would be a definite advantage, but I can't help thinking the Ribble (probably built up with silver Veloce) would have a bit more style to it. I've now been dithering for well over a month and slowly getting more fed up with the borrowed hybrid - what is wrong with me?

mudcovered

fat daddy wrote:

argh, crappy square taper bottom brackets fitted in 1997 with plastic caps !!!!

put tool in to remove cap .... gently rotate anticlockwise, the cap slowly loosens ... then .... boom, thousands of bits of plastic spline go everywhere

Been there. Done that. I think that's why the recommendation is to remove the metal side first. That takes the pressure off the plastic cap making it more likely to come out intact.

Mike

shycho

Realising the forks on my BSO are backwards. (Only realising after a more seasoned rider at work pointed it out too me). Only one guess as to where I purchased it.

fat daddy

mudcovered wrote:

Been there. Done that. I think that's why the recommendation is to remove the metal side first. That takes the pressure off the plastic cap making it more likely to come out intact.

good tip .... although I will probably never get to use it again .. perhaps someone reading this will

veronese68

rjsterry wrote:

My inability to make a choice. Following the demise of my Giant, I've narrowed the replacement options down to a Kaffenback or a Ribble 525. I tend to tear through rims pretty quickly so the disc brakes on the Kaffenback would be a definite advantage, but I can't help thinking the Ribble (probably built up with silver Veloce) would have a bit more style to it. I've now been dithering for well over a month and slowly getting more fed up with the borrowed hybrid - what is wrong with me?

You could have finished the Mercian in that time.
You'll be glad of the discs in bad weather, in good weather you may wish you'd got the Ribble.

wolfsbane2k

Frozen overflowing ponds + light traffic + rural roads = ice rink.
Wrong bike today.

asprilla

Stupid Garmin update deleting all my settings.

Also, I followed the Strava Beacon instructions; nothing happened.

rjsterry

Veronese68 wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

My inability to make a choice. Following the demise of my Giant, I've narrowed the replacement options down to a Kaffenback or a Ribble 525. I tend to tear through rims pretty quickly so the disc brakes on the Kaffenback would be a definite advantage, but I can't help thinking the Ribble (probably built up with silver Veloce) would have a bit more style to it. I've now been dithering for well over a month and slowly getting more fed up with the borrowed hybrid - what is wrong with me?

You could have finished the Mercian in that time.
You'll be glad of the discs in bad weather, in good weather you may wish you'd got the Ribble.

Oh you're a real help! :roll: I'm paying for it through our in house cycle to work scheme so refurbishing the Mercian frame and buying bits of vintage kit are going to have to wait

veronese68

rjsterry wrote:

Oh you're a real help! :roll:

Think of it as encouragement, or my inability to resist an easy dig.
Don't mention the Triumph Bonneville that's been in bits in my garage for 8 years now. I'm having a competition with a mate over who will finish their bike first. He has a 25 year head start though.
I think I'd go for the Kaffenback for all weather ability. I love my disc brakes in the wet. Does it have full hydraulics? Best option.

rower63

Personally I'd go for the Ribble/Veloce, you'll never tire of the loveliness or the compliments. Put Swissstop BXP blocks into the brakes and you'll be fine in the wet, I was on my wettest day ever this week in some pretty horrendous traffic. V68, with his heritage, should be ashamed of himself.

itboffin

rjsterry wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

My inability to make a choice. Following the demise of my Giant, I've narrowed the replacement options down to a Kaffenback or a Ribble 525. I tend to tear through rims pretty quickly so the disc brakes on the Kaffenback would be a definite advantage, but I can't help thinking the Ribble (probably built up with silver Veloce) would have a bit more style to it. I've now been dithering for well over a month and slowly getting more fed up with the borrowed hybrid - what is wrong with me?

You could have finished the Mercian in that time.
You'll be glad of the discs in bad weather, in good weather you may wish you'd got the Ribble.

Oh you're a real help! :roll: I'm paying for it through our in house cycle to work scheme so refurbishing the Mercian frame and buying bits of vintage kit are going to have to wait

Was a lovely SS for a while

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jXiwLSGhhoB89fpY9whhBAtiO5H5kaOz9d-a8gNR1rJatz6qRrx7MQcyJ5SCjq0Zz3jVpaEe2EqXVA=w1366-h768-rw-no

and before that with down shifters and 27" wheels

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iOoaSCEOGAKZ70Zw7GT3V6esNm0LxRb8rBsT3pg4ORNyPSOeA4XLOTczeujYgUZmEM1HBYeJcWuNig=w1366-h768-rw-no

itboffin

rower63 wrote:

Personally I'd go for the Ribble/Veloce, you'll never tire of the loveliness or the compliments. Put Swissstop BXP blocks into the brakes and you'll be fine in the wet, I was on my wettest day ever this week in some pretty horrendous traffic. V68, with his heritage, should be ashamed of himself.

I love all my campag groupsets old and new but the new chorus brakesets are totally insane everytime I use the Cervelo i almost endo the first time the brakes come on, centaur are also very good but as you say even better shod with swissstops, those are now my go to brakepads on all bikes

BobMcbob

I'm going straight ahead on a green, no traffic in front of me, taxi coming opposite direction wants to turn right, just saunters across, cue extreme breaking and a change of underwear. I have two front lights flashing on at all times so , he just didn't give a damn. If I hadn't swerved and emergency braked, I'd be on his bonnet.

rick_chasey

Back from honeymoon, unexpected rental car charge to the tune of €250.

veronese68

Rick Chasey wrote:

Back from honeymoon, unexpected rental car charge to the tune of €250.

What for? We were charged extra for a one way rental when we'd booked and paid for a one way and even had a note on the invoice saying there was nothing extra to pay. Got it refunded when we gto back, if not I'd have gone through the credit card company. They are robbing barstewards.
Congratulations by the way, trust you had a good time.

rick_chasey

Spurious scratch on the rear bumper.

The mentioned it when I handed the car in, but insisted I wouldn't have to pay, as long as I signed a statement. I was sceptical, but the guy insisted.

I eventually relented and wrote "I have no recollection of any accident or crash".

andy9964

Thorn in rear tyre on Friday night's home leg, swapped for a new tube and remove thorn.
Cornflake sized shard of glass this morning in the same tyre, on the way to work. Replaced with repaired tube from friday.
And tonight, flat rear again, from the not-so-well-repaired Friday tube. replaced with this mornings repaired tube, and swapped the tyre at home for the spare Randonneur.
Crosses fingers and off to bed

shycho

It being so warm today, I didn't need my gloves. So apparently decided to leave them on the ground outside my house. Wonder if they'll still be there when I get home.

fat daddy

Calorie deficits .. ARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! ... grumpy

gbsahne001

Discovered last night that whilst travelling at 35mph, it is not the best time to have a visit from you know who last night.......luckily on the back wheel

wolfsbane2k

Groin to top tube incident with a broken pedal while pulling away.
I'll be talking slightly higher than normal for the next few hours.

Has also resulted in the OH asking 'are you sure cycling is more economical than driving'. Cue panic.

redvee

gbsahne wrote:

Discovered last night that whilst travelling at 35mph, it is not the best time to have a visit from you know who last night.......luckily on the back wheel

Done that on the front 1/3 the way down a 30+mph hill with a left/right bend near the bottom. :shock:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Groin to top tube incident with a broken pedal while pulling away.

Came close myself when pulling away from a pedestrian crossing, one foot clipped in the other on the pedal. Foot on the pedal slipped off and saved myself from being soprano in the chior.